New Jersey is a leading liberal state

Paid family leave. The abolition of the death penalty. An apology for slavery.

Any way you look at it, New Jersey appears to be forging a new path for liberal public policy-making nationwide.

"What New Jersey has enacted into law, I think, puts us in the forefront of states," said Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics.

The evidence seems to grow every day.

The Garden State is one of only a handful to recognize civil unions for gay couples. The Legislature is debating universal health care, even in the midst of a debilitating fiscal crunch.

When voters in November rejected a plan to spend $450 million on stem-cell research, the result was broadly interpreted to mean people were worried about their wallets, not ethical or religious ramifications. Despite their apparent financial concerns, New Jerseyans agreed, in the same referendum, to spend $200 million on open space.

"I think New Jersey is becoming a more liberal state. It's clear it's hard for Republicans to win unless they're moderate," said Senate President Richard J. Codey (D., Essex).

Republicans agree, although some are optimistic it's just a phase.

"I think there's no doubt in the fact that this state has had a liberal trend for the last 10 years," said George Gilmore, Ocean County Republican chairman. He added that he expected conservatives to come back into power again soon because of the cyclical nature of politics.

New Jersey has not elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1972, and no Republican has been elected to a statewide office since 1997. The Democrats who have been elected - including Gov. Corzine, when he was a U.S. senator, and current Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez - are known for their left-leaning voting records.

Democrats have controlled the governor's office and both houses of the Legislature since 2004 - which, of course, means Democratic-backed legislation is much more likely to succeed than Republican-backed measures.

Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, said she believed the Democrats' dominance had created an environment in which liberal politics has flourished. There is, she said, an "inextricable link between the comparative electoral security of Democrats in this state and their willingness to take on some of these more liberal issues."

"You can go out on a limb because there's not a whole lot to fear," Harrison said.

Most agree the state's demographics - particularly its affluence, high level of education, and growing immigrant population - make it a natural breeding ground for liberal policies. Some speculate the state's high population density forces diverse groups to get along.

Proximity to New York City and influence from the state's colleges and universities could also play a part, said Clay Richards, who runs the Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey.

"Constantly keeping public opinions and liberal ideas in the minds of the voters by saying, 'Do you like this stuff?' - it turns the pot, if you will, and keeps the liberal thoughts flowing," Richards said.

Observers disagree about whether New Jersey has become more liberal lately or is simply continuing a blue streak that stretches back for decades.

Joseph R. Marbach, acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University, said the state Supreme Court had long been a driving force on issues such as the death penalty and civil unions.

"If we were a more conservative state, I think there would have been push-back against the Supreme Court in that regard," Marbach said.

In the 1980s, for example, New Jersey's Supreme Court supported the "battered-woman syndrome" as a defense, ruled in the Mount Laurel cases that the state should ensure affordable housing, and held that terminally ill patients are allowed to refuse treatment. In 1990, the court ruled in the landmark Abbott case in favor of increasing spending for poor school districts.

Critics have long argued, to little effect, that the court has frequently overstepped its jurisdiction.

"I think [conservatives] have railed against it and tried to make it an issue, but it's never resonated with the voters, so there doesn't seem to be this sense that the courts are a danger or are out of control," Marbach said. "If anything, it seems to be that the courts are in line with the public thinking."

Michael P. Riccards, executive director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy, noted that conservatives in other states, such as Massachusetts, had been much more vocal and active on issues such as gay marriage, acting to temper liberal tendencies.

But the other two branches of New Jersey government have also been quite activist for many years, Harrison said.

In addition to the issues previously mentioned, she cited mandating HIV testing for expectant mothers and newborns and banning sex offenders from using the Internet.

"It really, in my mind, is a reflection of the past three governors," Harrison said, referring to Corzine, Codey and Jim McGreevey.

But for all the liberal policies it has adopted, New Jersey may not always feel like a blue state to residents, Reed said.

"We may pass laws that are perceived as liberal or that expand opportunities for people, that are seen as making it a just society, but when it comes to implementing those laws, we don't have a very progressive record of public administration, of working in the interest of people," Reed said.

She noted the state's difficulties in carrying out the Mount Laurel decisions, for example, as well as a relatively regressive tax system.

But for many, that distinction is splitting hairs in trying to characterize New Jersey.

"It's one of the big Northeast liberal states," said the Quinnipiac poll's Richards. "There's no other way to look at it."

Here are some recent actions that have experts placing New Jersey in the ranks of the most liberal states.

Universal health care: A preliminary proposal for a plan that would eventually require everyone in the state to have health insurance has been presented by State Sen. Joseph F. Vitale (D., Middlesex).

Paid family leave: A measure approved by the Legislature awaits Gov. Corzine's signature.

Apology for slavery: In January, the Legislature passed a resolution apologizing and expressing regret for "wrongs inflicted by slavery." New Jersey was the last Northern state to free slaves.

Abolition of the death penalty: A law signed in December made the state the first to abolish the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.

Civil unions: New Jersey has recognized them since February 2007. California, Connecticut and Vermont also recognize civil unions; Massachusetts allows gay couples to marry.

EndText